Real Estate Lawyers

From the increasing importance of green issues to the emergence of coworking and coliving, the digitalisation of design, the marketing and use of properties, the planned obsolescence of buildings stock and the explosion of alternative assets – the real-estate sector is undergoing profound transformations, reflected in the numerous reforms of the applicable legislative and regulatory framework (including the Alur law, the Pinel law, the Macron law, the law on energy transition for green growth and reform of contract law). In order to secure and optimise your projects and your assets in this rapidly-changing and complex environment subject to numerous subtle technical factors, a perfect understanding of legal and tax challenges is required, from planning of your operations to their performance.

Whether you are a French or foreign investor, a user (large company or SME), a developer, a builder, an intermediary, a regional authority, a banking establishment or any other operator in the sector, we are able to support you at each stage of your project.

Given the wide range of disciplines involved – and to provide you with leading-edge support in all situations – the 80 associates from our real-estate division in France offer their combined knowledge and expertise in the urban planning and property tax. 

Our teams are therefore able to offer general or specific support in all aspects of your real estate projects: sales and acquisitions of buildings (industrial, commercial and residential buildings, land, leisure facilities, hotels, whether already built or in the planning stages, and individual or grouped assets); construction and development (construction contracts, contracting authority assistance, contracting authority delegation, project management, property development, construction leases and off-plan leases); leases (advice and disputes relating to commercial leases—negotiation, fixing of rent on renewal, eviction, termination, completion of works, civil law leases, exceptional leases, professional leases and residential leases); development and administrative authorisations (public domain occupancy agreements, financing, construction and maintenance agreements, partnership agreements, long-term administrative leases, temporary occupancy permits, long-term hospital leases); urban planning (advice and disputes in terms of national and local urban planning rules, building permits, taxes and contributions, commercial planning, approvals and fees specific to the Greater Paris region); environment and sustainable development (pollution and facilities classified for the protection of the environment, audits of the location of real estate assets and operating sites, problems associated with the Grenelle environmental regulations, green leases); expropriation (advice concerning public utility declarations, procedure and fixing of compensation payable to owners of real estate assets and commercial or industrial operators); co-ownership (advice and disputes relating to co-ownership); real estate professions (advice and disputes relating to property administrators and problems associated with the Hoguet law); financing of real estate projects (legal and tax aspects); property taxation (tax optimisation of investment structures – SIIC, OPCI, SCPI regime, etc., taxation on property transactions); local taxes before, during and after works (built and non-built land taxes, annual tax on offices, commercial and storage premises in the Greater Paris region, regional economic contribution); real estate VAT (property transactions, development, property traders) and transactions concerning companies operating in the real estate sector. 

In each of these fields, they offer audits of the administrative and legal situation, advice, assistance with negotiations and the conclusion of agreements and contracts, as well as management of disputes before civil and administrative courts.

Support from the CMS international network , comprising 800 specialist associates, allows us to provide you with tailored and effective solutions, whatever the geographical scope of your issues.